There have been some cold mornings in the Factory this month, well Aucklander cold! But that hasn’t stopped progress on our current projects.
David’s Fraser Clubman S is on the cusp of being delivered. It is trimmed, LV, compliance and has been for its road tests Just a couple of things to tidy up and it will be on the truck destined for its new home in Lincoln, Canterbury. So watch out for a bright yellow streak screaming through the South Island country roads soon!
We have been helping Steve with his Factory Five Daytona replica; this is a car that has recently been certified by us and after a short while on the road, began to develop reliability issues with its Holley Sniper EFI. We have been down this path before and while they do work, they are prone to just dying at the most inopportune times. After the second such issue, Steve decided to get us to install a proper sequential fuel injection system. The install has now been completed and it is back up and running again. We are dropping it off to the dyno for tuning today and look forward to handing it back to Steve soon, knowing we can rely on the fact that he can make it home from his drives.
Bruce has been beavering away on Geoff’s BMW 2002 restomod. The rear suspension is modelled of an early Subaru WRX GC8, albeit narrowed and raised in the car. It has a plated LSD R180 diff from a type R WRX and a custom rear subframe and mounts. We are about half way through the rear suspension build and are expecting the brand new Honda civic type R engine to arrive next week. This car will make the purists turn in their graves but should be one hell of a ride!
You will remember the gorgeous KE25 Corolla that we have recently finished building, It did not take long before we got the call saying “I want more power!” After tossing some ideas about, the final decision was made to build a whole new engine for the car, rather than modify the existing motor. This time we are pulling no punches. We are sticking with naturally aspirated but building a 1900cc 7AGE 16V with all the fruit, lots of headwork, stroker kit, big valves, big cams and built to spin to 9k. We will be building new tuned length headers and getting it all re-tuned. The engine should be finished later this week so we can get the car back and begin work fitting it all up.
Matthew has dropped his 1963 Chrysler 300 off for some work prior to compliance. This is a solid old car that he has brought in with very low mileage and everything works, right down to the original radio in the dash. We drive lots of old cars but this one drives amazingly, it has to be one of the smoothest riding cars we’ve ever been in, guess that must be down to the fact it is bog standard and such low miles. It still needs a few suspension joints replaced and we have treated the body with a rust converter to prevent any surface rust from getting worse. Other than that we won’t be touching it and keeping its old car charm just the way it is.
